Literacy Listens
An audiotape featuring four basic skills students talking about their positive 
experience of an adult literacy course has been publicised and made available for 
distribution  around the city in order to encourage more adults with basic skills 
problems to seek appropriate help.
-Leeds TEC
 

Time to Read in Gloucestershire: Reading for Work 
Reading 'roadie' and writer Sheila Mander is visiting young New Deal clients in job 
centres in order to run basic literacy classes, disseminate resources and promote 
confidence in reading.
- Gloucestershire County Council

Service Children's Education   - Get Your Family Started: Leap into Reading 
 Storysacks have been distributed to nurseries and playgroups on British forces bases 
in Germany, Gibraltar, Belize and Brunei and training given to workers in order to 
raise awareness of the benefits of reading among service parents and their children

Beyond Trainspotting 
An outreach library project promoted cult novels to the 16 - 25 age group, drawing 
on cross artform and digital arts activities and linking in with other forms of youth 
culture including music, sport, fashion, film and the Internet. It targeted groups in 
drop-in centres, youth clubs and colleges and involved workshops with artists and 
writers, library installations and events such as public readings.
- Cleveland Arts 

Talking Pictures: Literacy through Graphic Novels 
A series of pilot workshops with excluded and disaffected young people between the 
ages of 14 and 16, particularly boys, has led to the production of a graphic novel 
which has been distributed to local schools, community groups and libraries.
- North Tyneside Council

Liverpool Libraries and Information Services  - Fit to Read 
Local soap stars, actors, sports personalities and pop stars were featured in a poster 
campaign and accompanying book lists aimed at encouraging people aged between 16
 and 25 to discover the value and pleasure of reading
 

Well Worth Reading  - BOOX for Us
This brought together librarians and the National Youth Agency to run six 
demonstration projects designed to reach socially excluded young people and produce
 The Reading Kit, a pack of practical ideas for inspiring young people to read more 
widely.  The projects are in Lewes, Leicester, Newcastle, Leeds, Liverpool and 
Derbyshire.

Gateshead LEA  - Get Reading 
Collaboration between eight schools and the local Eagles basket ball team has 
provided positive role models in order to raise levels of achievement among children 
aged between 11 and 14, particularly boys.  Activities included a poster campaign, 
school visits and celebratory matches.

Manchester Public Libraries  - Read It:  Beyond a Poster Campaign 
Collaboration between the local Storm ice hockey team and the Giants basketball 
team included a major  poster campaign, celebratory events and the start of a 
continuing working relationship to promote reading.

Thomas Coram Foundation  - Young Care Leavers Reading Project 
This is providing reading and basic skills support to young people leaving care or in 
need in order to prepare them for their future careers.
- London Borough of Camden

Save the Children/Equality Learning Centre  - Young Boys and Fathers Reading 
Exploration of the negative perceptions of reading held by boys and their fathers led 
to production of an interactive booklet for fathers and sons and publication of 
findings and recommendations in Reading for the Future, a report for early years 
professionals
- London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

United Kingdom Reading Association (UKRA)  - Curiosity Kits
This pilot project explored the concept of using book bags to capture the interest of 
reluctant and struggling boy readers. 'Curiosity Kits'were placed in four primary 
classes nationwide for boys of eight or nine and their impact monitored by a team of 
researchers from the Universities of Plymouth and Nottingham and Canterbury
Christchurch College.
- Devon County Council

Barbados Youth Education and Culture Group  - Caribbean Volunteer Readers and 
Performers Project   being piloted in primary schools in the London Borough of Southwark 
from September 1999 to recruit and train mainly male volunteers to act as positive role models 
through story writing workshops.  The project hopes to develop training programmes to be used by
 network groups throughout the country to train local volunteers

Manchester Settlement  - Beswick and Bradford Young Readers Club 
Funding is supporting a young readers' club for children between five and eight with 
the aim of encouraging reading for pleasure among those not accustomed to reading 
outside school hours.
- Manchester City Council

East Bristol Schools Cluster  - Fun to Read Festival 
The project offered a series of evening courses for parents of school-age children and
 the involvement of 15 schools in a Festival of Reading held in central Bristol to 
celebrate reading in the community.

Cumbria County Council  - Sticks, Stones and Stories 
The project enabled disadvantaged children from urban areas to stay overnight within
 the World Heritage Site of Birdoswald and work with writers to produce a book and 
exhibition based on their visit.

Book Trust - National Children's Book Week 
Funding allowed for the production and administration of Organising a Book Event 
during the National Year of Reading, available on request for schools and libraries as 
part of the promotion for National Children's Book week in 1998.

Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), UK - Book FUNds
RIF is an initiative of the National Literacy Trust that helps children and young people (aged 0 to 19) to realise their potential by motivating them to read. RIF delivers targeted literacy projects that promote the fun of reading, the importance of book choice and the benefits to families of having books at home.

Book FUNds are clusters of RIF projects operating in schools. For more information visit the RIF webpages.

Federation of Children's Book Groups 
Funding has enabled the establishment of a head office and several more reading 
groups nationwide.
- Leeds City Council

Arts projects funded by the National Year of Reading

Harrogate Borough Council Museums and Arts - The Art of Reading 
A programme of events in Harrogate libraries and a local art gallery focused on an 
exhibition of illustrations from historic and contemporary children's books.
- North Yorkshire County Council

Film Education  - Screen Reads: Made for the Movies! 
Linked to Screen Reads, one of the monthly themes, this offered primary schools 
throughout the UK the opportunity to attend free screenings of book-related films 
such as The Secret Garden, Shakespeare in Love and Twelfth Night, supported by 
workshops and speakers.

Poems on the Underground  - 1,000 Year of Poetry in English 
Funding supported the distribution to schools, libraries and the general public of a 
series of 12 poems to celebrate poetry in English over the past 1,000 years which 
were displayed in the Underground.

Birmingham Reads
Birmingham Reading Development Partnership 
The project organised a series of relevant, topical and fun activities for people aged 
10 - 14 (particularly boys) and their families during summer 1999, including an 'On 
the Street' Festival, football poetry sessions and two issues of a magazine written by 
young people.
LEA Area: Birmingham City Council

More Reading in Blackpool 
The one-year appointment of poet Charles Bennett as Reader in Residence led to the
development of reading workshops with a variety of audiences, the distribution of 
3000 reading-related posters to sites including laundrettes and pubs, an internet 
reading and writing game and a summer beach library. 
The residency has also involved training in literature development work for library 
staff to build on the project for the future.
LEA Area: Blackpool Borough Council

Poetry Society  - National Poetry Day 
Funding covered production of a poster and teachers' pack for distribution to all 
schools and libraries for the Fifth National Poetry Day in 1998.

Make Time for Rhyme 
A 'Make Time for Rhyme' reading guidance pack was distributed to health centres 
and non-educational establishments and translated into multilingual versions.
London Borough of Hounslow Education Department 

Reading to Children 
A coordinator was appointed to implement the Council's pledge to involve its 
employees and other organisations in reading stories to children.  Its target of 
25,000 was far exceeded and the project will be extended on a voluntary basis to 
include elderly people.
- Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council

Words at Work 
Employee volunteers from local businesses are linking up with ten local schools to 
work with teachers and pupils on reading.
- Sandwell EBP 

CSV  - RSVP Books for Schools 
Older volunteers involved in RSVP's scheme for listening to children read in schools 
worked with teachers and pupils to share in choosing books for their school libraries. 
 Around 1500 new books were acquired across more than 100 schools in England, 
Scotland and Wales.

Bolton: The Reading Town 
A full-time coordinator was appointed in order to implement a wide-ranging reading 
awareness campaign which reached 40,000 individuals, including local government 
employees, reception class children, school leavers, local businesses, nursery children,
 adult returners and the over-60s.
- Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council 

CSV  - Reading Together 
This built on CSV's existing student tutoring network to establish and evaluate 
reading partnerships in five schools in England between October 1998 and June 
1999. Recommendations for refining methodology were gathered from older students
 who were trained as reading tutors in order to work with year 7 students.

St Helen's EBP - Listening to Your Child Read 
This project is piloting the creation of 'reading together' drop-in centres in the 
waiting areas of medical establishments where parents can seek on-the-spot advice 
about books and reading together with a choice of books and guidance leaflet.
-  St Helens Met. Borough Council

St Andrew's Hospital  - Reading for Pleasure 
Writers are running workshops to discuss their work with young and adult psychiatric
 patients as a forerunner to establishing some reading groups within St Andrew's 
Hospital in Northampton
- Northamptonshire County Council

Alcohol Recovery Project  - The ARP Reading Scheme 
The project has funded a reading support worker from September 1999 for people 
with drink problems from a wide variety of backgrounds who have been sober for at 
least three months, giving them the opportunity to meet and discuss books together, 
and to keep the books if they wish.
 

Health Services and Adult Education Reading Partnership 
Two schemes involving outreach work between the adult education service, local 
health authorities and other health agencies were successfully piloted leading to 
publication of a good practice guide.
- Essex County Council Community Education 

North West Book Promotion Partnership  - Listen 'Ear 
Members of this grouping of libraries in the North-West have worked with a radio 
journalist to compile a tape of reading recommendations from housebound disabled 
and elderly library members which will be distributed to libraries for wider use.
- Stockport  Met. Borough Council

Bilingual Storysacks
A project worker is working with an Asian Elders Centre in order to produce bilingual
 resources and storysacks for children with the idea of transferring this model to 
work with other community groups.
- Southampton Libraries and Social Services - Southampton City Council

Newcastle City Libraries  - Reading and Reminiscence
Reading reminiscence workshops were held in care homes, sheltered housing and day 
centres to establish cross-generational links with readers in local schools.

Reading to Children 
A coordinator was appointed to implement the Council's pledge to involve its 
employees and other organisations in reading stories to children.  Its target of 
25,000 was far exceeded and the project will be extended on a voluntary basis to 
include elderly people.
- Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council

Sharing Stories 
From March to May 1999, 40 participatory story-telling sessions by Shaggy Dog 
Storytellers were held in day centres, almshouses and sheltered housing, reaching over
 400 elderly people. There are plans to build on the project with a possible 
publication of reminiscences and further group sessions
- Calderdale library services

North West Book Promotion Partnership  - Listen 'Ear 
Members of this grouping of libraries in the North-West have worked with a radio
journalist to compile a tape of reading recommendations from housebound disabled 
and elderly library members which will be distributed to libraries for wider use.
- Stockport  Met. Borough Council

A Lifetime of Reading: Share the Journey 
A disabled writer has run a series of workshops with disabled and non-disabled people 
to explore issues of disability equality in relation to reading and literacy, leading to 
production of a story accessible to a range of age groups and abilities in media such as
 Braille, tactile, photographic and tape form.
Somerset Inclusion Partnership - Somerset County Council

REACH Advice Centre for Children with Reading Difficulties  - Poster and leaflet for
 parents of pre-school children 
Posters and leaflets for parents of pre-school children with known disabilities or 
likely educational problems are being produced and distributed through social services,
 health visitors, libraries and other organisations.

MENCAP - Reading for All 
This project funded the research and production of a multi-media parents'pack for 
children and young adults with profound disabilities which was launched at a 
conference in September 1999.

SCOPE - Teaching Reading to Children Who Cannot Speak 
An outreach worker is collating and disseminating good practice and creative ideas on
 teaching reading to children who cannot speak in order to give guidance on 
producing teaching materials.

ClearVision  - Tactile Book Trials 
The project produced and evaluated two simple tactile books with thermoformed real
 objects to cater for the need to encourage pre-reading skills in children who will go 
on to learn Braille. The RNIB has agreed to produce and sell another 100 copies of 
each and a French charity is investigating ways of making the books available in 
other European languages. The Nuffield Foundation will be funding the development 
of a further six tactile books.

Bag Books  - Bridging the Gap
Funding is helping to support the production of age-appropriate story packs for 
young people aged 16-19 and young adults aged 20-30 with profound and multiple 
learning difficulties. Two stories are currently being adapted into multi-sensory form 
for production and distribution by spring 2000.
 

Write Away  - Newsletter for Adults with Disabilities 
Members of the charity Write Away, the majority of whom have learning 
difficulties, have been able to produce a quarterly newsletter.  Lloyds TSB has agreed 
to continue four further issues for 2000.

Norfolk County Council  - Books Alive
Two storytellers worked in four special needs schools and a special needs centre, 
working with children and providing training for teachers, parents and other carers. 
Storysacks and resource packs have been developed for distribution at an information
 sharing event and there are plans to develop a website.

RNIB  - Young Men's Magazine in Braille 
Funding has supported the production of SP, a magazine of interest to young men 
with serious sight problems in Braille, on disk and in audio format.

Essex County Council  - Readers Without Walls 
Librarians have been working with the housebound to help them make informed 
reading choices through the use of computer links, a newsletter and other support 
materials.

Read On Write Away/Royal School for the Deaf  - Sign Language Video Book 
Translations 
This project has pioneered sign language video book translations of well-known 
books so that deaf sign language users can have access to mainstream school 
literature, thus encouraging integration between deaf and hearing children in schools.
- Derbyshire County Council

Dyslexia projects funded by the National Year of Reading

Dyslexia Institute/Feltham Young Offenders Institution  - Reading Support for 
Young Offenders 
A pilot project carried out a random assessment of reading and spelling levels among 
male inmates with the aim of identifying those who were dyslexic and would benefit 
from the Dyslexia Institute's Units of Sound multimedia reading support programme.
 Dyslexia awareness training is also being provided for staff and volunteers.

British Dyslexia Association - Volunteer Readers Pack
The project piloted a simple and accessible support pack for volunteers working with
 dyslexic adults and children in paired reading schemes, many of whom are recruited 
from industry.  Over 3000 packs have been distributed, sharing good practice and 
encouraging new volunteers.
 

British Dyslexia Association and HMP Pentonville - Pentonville Prison Dyslexia 
Project 
Funding supported the development of a multi-sensory, 'dyslexia friendly', Touch, 
Type, Read and Spell computer-based remediation package for prisoners who suffer 
from dyslexia.  The course will continue to be run at HMP Pentonville and the 
Home Office has recommended its use to prison education providers throughout the 
UK.

Live to Read, Read to Live 
An outreach worker from Wiltshire Libraries has provided support materials and 
promotional activity for parents of pre-school children, focusing particularly on 
army communities on the edge of Salisbury Plain. 
- Wiltshire County Council

TAR - Travellers and Reading 
(Wakefield Traveller Education Service)  - Travellers and Reading 
Project workers have been visiting members of a young traveller community to raise 
awareness about the importance of reading and to offer basic skills training.
LEA Area: Wakefield Met. District Council

Live to Read, Read to Live 
An outreach worker from Wiltshire Libraries has provided support materials and 
promotional activity for parents of pre-school children, focusing particularly on 
army communities on the edge of Salisbury Plain.
- Wiltshire County Council 

Bury Metropolitan Borough Council  - Story Start 
Collections of pre-school reading materials have been placed in health centres, 
doctors and dental practices in Bury. Librarians have been visiting these locations 
during autumn 1999 to read stories, promote literacy and the library service.
 

Hartlepool Borough Libraries  - Teenage Parents Reading Group
Storyteller Pascale Konyn has been working with teenage parents in non-educational 
settings such as refuges and community centres in order to promote reading to them 
and their families.

  - The Daily Read 
The Daily Read, a newspaper for new parents containing information on sharing 
books and literacy activities, was distributed to mothers of new babies in hospitals in 
Staffordshire and Kirklees. The project will extend to Surrey in 2000. The newspaper
 contains a free book voucher from Tesco and was supported by Bounty Services Ltd 
and Northcliffe Newspapers.
- National Literacy Association

North Lincolnshire Council  - The Early Bird Project 
Working through mobile and branch libraries, early years workers will be given 
support to encourage family reading and literacy activities in rural areas.

Norfolk Family Literacy Programme   Home Time 
A series of family workshops were held in schools and workplaces in conjunction 
with Home Time, a weekly interactive radio programme transmitted by BBC Radio 
Norfolk. An activity pack has been prepared for distribution to families and children 
and to radio listeners who call  the programme.

Childminders' Reading Resources
Working with the library service, the association has produced an ideas pack and 
resource materials and offered training for childminders in reading-related activities.
- Solihull Borough Childminding Association 

West Sussex County Council 
A bus, staffed by youth, basic skills and library staff and a dedicated coordinator and 
equipped with pre-school and parenting information and books, is visiting a range of 
groups in areas of social deprivation

Reaching Parents in the Community 

Launchpad has been working with libraries to promote reading to parents in locations
 such as supermarkets and the workplace.  Projects have included working with all 
223 ASDA stores in a week-long 'Big Read', setting up a book borrowing service for 
shift workers at Ford's Dagenham plant and linking Random House publishers and 
library authorities for Kick Off!, a promotion of books for lads and dads.
- Launchpad (Library Association and ASCEL) 

Dorset Professional Education Centre  - Growing Readers Book Groups 
Funding supported a 'Growing Readers' conference in November 1998 and the 
establishment of four book groups for parents and grandparents of school-aged 
children in rural areas of Dorset. A second conference was held in November this 
year.

The Street Library
This project has brought together two writers and small groups of socially excluded 
people to improve their literacy skills and produce their own street library of 
publications loaned or distributed through their own informal network.  The aim is to
 secure further funding to continue working with a core of committed participants.
- Darts (Doncaster Community Arts)

Rural Education and Arts Project (REAP)  - Reading Routes 
REAP has worked with primary schoolchildren, the elderly and community groups to
 develop reading materials based on local history and reminiscence which will form 
an exhibition in spring 2000.
- Derbyshire County Council

Reading Together: Literacy Villages 
A partnership has been established between two villages, one in a coalfield district, 
the other in a very rural part of the county, which will forge links between libraries, 
primary schools, a college and other centres in order to stimulate, support and 
encourage reading in both family and community settings.
LEA Area: Sandwell Met. Borough Council
- Nottinghamshire County Council 

Kingston-upon-Hull NYR Partnership  - Words: A Reading Roadshow 
A touring display, complete with activities such as storytelling, workshops, poetry 
reading and reading games, has been visiting severely deprived areas in order to target
 non-traditional readers with low literacy levels.

Sunderland Education and Community Services  'The Big Read',
co-funded by business and the local authority, is developing a 
cross-generational partnership between the community library, primary school, 
residential home and other community organisations in the Southwick area of 
Sunderland, encouraging reading together at all ages.
 

South East London Performance Improvement Group  - Read around the Family 
Six library authorities each ran a seven-week programme of family reading events 
backed up with printed support material, leading to the development of two family 
reading groups in each borough.
- London Borough of Southwark

National Council for One Parent Families  - 3 Million and Me 
A guide to recommended reading will be made available free of charge to those 
seeking help from the NCOPF information line.

Jee Aya Nu (Welcome) 
Reading groups for Asian families have been established by holding a series of 
workshops both inside and outside the library and provided related training for library staff.
Wolverhampton Met. Borough Council - Wolverhampton Libraries and Information Service 

Scottish Book Trust  - Beginning with Books: Minority languages 
Beginning with Books, a guide for parents and carers, has been translated, published 
and distributed in Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and Welsh.

African-Caribbean Network for Science & Technology - Ishango Reading Scheme 
A reading and literacy component was added to existing maths and science schemes 
for ten weeks each term from April 1998 to March 1999.  Forty-five underachieving
  9- to 11 year-olds from six target schools attended the twice weekly after-school 
literacy sessions.  Featured in the Basic Skills Agency's Family Literacy Good 
Practice Guide, the project will be able to continue for another two years with 
funding from the Nuffield Foundation.
- Trafford Borough Council

Asian Libraries and Advisers Group (ALAG)  - Bibliography of Short Stories 
A bibliography of short stories in six Asian community languages, together with an 
English translation, has been distributed to relevant libraries in the UK, to encourage 
non-English people to read in their mother tongue. Related workshops are being held
 in six London authority areas and ALAG will be advising other authorities on setting
 up their own.

Barbados Youth Education and Culture Group  - Caribbean Volunteer Readers and 
Performers Project   being piloted in primary schools in the London Borough of Southwark 
from September 1999 to recruit and train mainly male volunteers to act as positive role models 
through story writing workshops.  The project hopes to develop training programmes to be used by
 network groups throughout the country to train local volunteers

Panrun Collective  - Black Literature 
Reading group sessions have been held in community settings in South London to 
discuss work by black writers.

Bilingual Storysacks
A project worker is working with an Asian Elders Centre in order to produce bilingual
 resources and storysacks for children with the idea of transferring this model to 
work with other community groups.
- Southampton Libraries and Social Services - Southampton City Council

Jalaram Bal Vikas  - Leicester Gujerati Literacy Project 
Jalaram Bal Vikas, a Gujerati community supplementary school, is holding workshops
 to present reading strategies and material for family reading in Gujerati.
- Leicester City Council

Aaghee (Awareness)  - Asian Women Readers/Writers Project 
A two-year project has provided workshops for women of all ages from the Asian 
community to encourage reading and writing, with a regular newsletter.  This has led 
to a wide range of activity including drama, a youth festival and young writers' 
publication.
- Birmingham City Council

English Language Teaching Service  - Community Based Book Project 
This service in Bury is working with the English department and pupils from ethnic 
minorities at two secondary schools to compile stories based on their own cultural 
background, the best of which are being translated into their own language.

HMP Highpoint  - Library Corner for Children
A reading corner for prisoners and their children is being developed within the 
visiting area with the support of library staff
-  Suffolk County Council

Kids VIP  - Storytelling Workshops/Books for Teenagers Visiting Prisons 
Kids VIP (Visiting in Prisons) is running storytelling sessions for young children on 
extended visits to their parents in prison and providing a range of suitable books for 
teenage visitors.   Other prisons are keen to use the service.

Safe Ground  - Literate Parents for the 21st Century 
Funding has helped to support a series of eight-day intensive literacy-related 
programmes exploring parent/child relationships, targeting 'at risk' students aged 
between 12 and 16 in schools and prisoners between 21 and 50 at HMP Wandsworth

HMP Holloway  - Reader-in-Residence 
From spring 2000 a reader-in-residence will work with female prisoners when their 
children visit, giving advice on reading and sharing storytelling techniques.
- London Borough of Islington

SOVA London  - SOVA Literacy Project 
 The project built on an existing initiative which provides training for volunteers who
 will offer one-to-one literacy tuition to offenders and ex-offenders.
- London Borough of Lambeth

British Dyslexia Association and HMP Pentonville - Pentonville Prison Dyslexia 
Project 
Funding supported the development of a multi-sensory, 'dyslexia friendly', Touch, 
Type, Read and Spell computer-based remediation package for prisoners who suffer 
from dyslexia.  The course will continue to be run at HMP Pentonville and the 
Home Office has recommended its use to prison education providers throughout the 
UK.

Dyslexia Institute/Feltham Young Offenders Institution  - Reading Support for 
Young Offenders 
A pilot project carried out a random assessment of reading and spelling levels among 
male inmates with the aim of identifying those who were dyslexic and would benefit 
from the Dyslexia Institute's Units of Sound multimedia reading support programme.
 Dyslexia awareness training is also being provided for staff and volunteers.

FATHERS 
A project worker will train volunteer staff to work with fathers in the prison on 
storytelling techniques for children as part of a 'family day' initiative designed to 
support normal interaction between prisoners and their children.
- Leicestershire Libraries/HMP Gartree